Ronaldo, Mane and Lewandowski reach World Cup, but no place for Salah and Zlatan

Portugal avoided the North Macedonian banana skin that Italy slipped on as two goals from Bruno Fernandes secured the play-off win, both goals assisted by Manchester United teammate Ronaldo.

Robert Lewandowski will also be in Qatar but it comes at the expense of Zlatan Ibrahimovic with Poland beating Sweden 2-0.

The Bayern Munich hotshot opened the scoring with a penalty before Piotr Zielinski sealed the win.

And in Africa, there was a nerve-wracking contest involving Liverpool stars Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah as Senegal and Egypt's play-off went to penalties, just like it did in the Africa Cup of Nations final.

Just like it did in Cameroon, Mane fired in the winning penalty as Senegal qualified for the tournament, making Salah arguably the biggest absentee from this winter's finals.

Salah put his spot-kick over the bar, however, there's likely to be an inquest after the match with lasers pointed at his face as he took his spot-kick. Lasers were pointed at both sets of players throughout the match too.

Ghana also booked their place at the World Cup after claiming a 1-1 draw in Nigeria.

Thomas Partey opened the scoring on ten minutes but William Troost-Ekong's 22nd-minute penalty levelled the scores. The Black Stars progressed on away goals with the first leg finishing goalless.

The finalists are beginning to take shape with 24 teams now securing their place at the World Cup.